The Love Story Of Barack & Michelle Obama In Pictures

The public’s introduction to the couple came on the campaign trail in 2007, but the Obamas’ story began nearly two decades earlier when Michelle Robinson was assigned to mentor Barack Obama at the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin. Now, their first date, a trip to see Do the Right Thing in 1989, is getting the Hollywood treatment through the film Southside With You hitting theaters on Aug. 26.

After a three-year courtship, the couple wed in 1992. Thanks to more than a decade in the public eye, thousands of photographs capture their relationship, seeming at once comfortable and restrained, joyous and subtle. She gingerly adjusts his tie. He lends her his jacket. Hand in hand, they face the public, poised and relaxed. In one frame, hundreds of spectators photograph the couple dancing during the official Inaugural Ball. In another, Mrs. Obama watches the president speak on a television, alone.

Barack Obama and Fiancée, Michelle, in Kenya, 1992

Image credits: Obama Family Photo

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in a family snapshot from their wedding day, Oct. 18, 1992